Songbirds demand a lot from their owners, some of whom work nine to five jobs.Īfter realising that he needed more time to care for his birds properly, Keshore left his full-time job as a ship surveyor to be a freelance renovator. “Easily, they will take up two to three hours of your time every day.” A caged songbird darting around in its cage, at the Kebun Baru Birdsinging Club. Different birds eat different types of food, and each bird has their own character,” Keshore explains. “These birds need to have their dedicated bathing time, adequate sunshine, and food. When he travels overseas, he must ensure that someone is available and qualified to care for his birds. Still, however much he loves them, rearing this many songbirds is a massive responsibility for Keshore. His face beams with pride when he talks about his songbirds-his vast collection includes twelve jambul birds (known as Red-whiskered Bulbul) and the matah puteh (known as Swinhoe’s White Eye). Keshore, a 30-year-old birdman, lives with more than 20 pet birds in an HDB flat with his wife. In their early 30s, these apprentice birdmen reflect a glimmer of hope in the narrowing future of this tradition. Some resort to standing and milling around, others crouch on the grass path.Īmongst the crowd, I catch glimpses of several younger faces. An audience of other fellow songbird enthusiasts take their seats on the pavement and plastic stool. Minutes before the bird-singing contest starts, a horde of bird owners fill up the arena. The potential extinction of this hobby looms on the horizon, and I wondered, if it were to continue-can these birdmen and their songbirds coexist with our modern ideas of animal welfare? A better tomorrow, or worse? Nowadays, the bird-singing community faces an existential challenge: How will the tradition continue? With a dwindling number of birdmen in their teenage years and 20s, this hobby could be lost in the years to come. I wonder then if these birds-even those bred in captivity-could live a happy, healthy life while crooning in a cage. Though the songbirds appear to be cheerfully domestic, this nugget of information from Malik reminds me that songbirds are indeed, wild. But now illegal already, most people breed their own birds instead.” They put a trained songbird and birdseed near the trap to lure these wild birds. “More than 30 years ago, people used an invisible leash to catch wild birds.
SONGBIRD BIRD FULL
With one hand clutching a raffia string attached to a metal tin cup full of kopi (the beverage of choice, it seems for many birdmen), he regales me with the stories he heard when he was a novice birdman, wet behind the ears, and new to the world of feathered crooners. I walk over to 57-year-old Malik, sitting on a red plastic chair, gazing up at his prized birds in their cage. The youngest are in their forties, and only a handful know of young adults with a keen interest in songbirds-if any at all. They are mostly older folks-millennial birdmen are few and far between. The nearby kopitiam buzzes with the convivial chatter of birdmen in an assortment of languages and dialects. They perch in cages, some more ornate than others, fleeting this way and that, as if warming up for an overture in three movements. The carpark near Kebun Baru Bird Singing Club starts to fill up with cars of all shapes, colours, models, and make, carrying precious melodious cargo-songbirds.
It’s a quiet Sunday morning, and an unassuming corner of Ang Mo Kio Blk 159 slowly comes to life.
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